In April and May of 2011 severe storms flooded at least half the counties in Vermont, resulting in a Presidential emergency declaration. A group of people in central Vermont began discussing the best way to help people hurt by that disaster.

“And then of course everything changed when Irene struck in late August,” recalled Doug Bishop, who chairs the Allocations Committee of the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund. “That certainly put into hyper-drive, if you will, the desire to move ahead and form a Disaster Relief Fund.”

Doug Bishop said the VDRF got started quickly before things were mapped out.

“We are building a bridge as we’re walking across it,” said Bishop. “We needed to start building that bridge, we needed to start recovery and we couldn’t wait we didn’t have every little detail nailed down in place, so we’re learning as we go along.”

So far the group has raised about $8 million. Its primary goal is to provide aid to people who have already sought help from other sources such as FEMA, but still need financial assistance to make their homes habitable.

“We can’t promise that people are going to feel like their life has not been interrupted,” said Bishop. “But if we can return that sense of normalcy, get people back in their homes, make sure they have they have potable water, make sure their septic is working, make sure they have what they need inside their home, that’s our goal and that’s where we step in and help out.”

The average grant from the VDRF is about $10,000. The biggest is $20,000.

There are no income eligibility requirements, but if someone has flood insurance or has other financial resources or is eligible for a loan then they may not be eligible for VDRF funding.

The morning after Irene, the phones at the Vermont Community Foundation didn’t stop ringing.

“We sat down as a whole staff,” recalled VCF President and CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay, “and said, ‘ Look, set aside all the other projects you’re working on right now. We’re focused on this for as long as we need to.’”

When Tropical Storm Irene raged through Vermont it shattered homes and businesses, roads and bridges. 1,400 households were displaced. Many people were left with nothing, except the muddied remnants of their belongings. Some lost their homes and their jobs. The storm had eroded the foundations of many people’s lives. But others reached out to help.

Although it’s been nearly two years since Tropical Storm Irene hit Vermont, there are still people who are in the process of recovering. The state’s Disaster Case Management Program has about 180 cases open.

About half of those involve repairing or rebuilding flood-damaged homes.

Cheryl and Patrick Boucher’s house, next to the Wells River in Groton, is jacked up high and surrounded by rocks and rubble dug out from beneath it.

Later this summer, Vermont will mark two years since Tropical Storm Irene swept through and left 7 people dead in its wake, while also wiping out roads, bridges, state offices, and homes.

Jon Graham and Beth Frock, and their two teenage daughters lost their Rochester home on that Sunday in August 2011, when a normally small brook swelled, undermining the foundation of their house, knocking the house to the ground.